In recent years, there has been a trend to create more pleasing work spaces for the activities of adults and children, alike. The structural design of furniture becomes a natural part of these work spaces. In other applications, furniture structures can themselves form the work or activity station. This application specially concerns the present invention.
As part of trend of interior design is to avoid the break-up of large spaces into separate, enclosed offices. Rather, more efficient and pleasant utilization of large spaces involves the creation of semi-private areas by means of divider panels that do not extend from floor to ceiling. This design has been found to be less psychologically confining when compared to small enclosed rooms. One example of such structures, then, is the use of modular desk systems with divider panels that are often employed in office environments as secretarial spaces, work stations, computer stations, etc. Another example is the use of divider panels or especially constructed semi-private desk units as reading/work stations in libraries and other records research facilities. These examples, of course, are by no means exhaustive.
While substantial attention has been directed to the structural design of modular facilities, less attention is believed to have been directed to providing modular activity centers for children. While there is a need in such applications to separate large, open rooms into defined activity areas, typically office-type modular units do not readily adapt to children's environments and are further often too expensive to be cost effective in many child-related situations. Additionally, while all applications of modular activity areas and work stations need to be utilitarian, there is a greater need with children to provide artistic integration into the design for purposes of stimulating a child's imagination. Also, it is an advantage in the construction of children's activity centers to provide structures which may be relatively quickly and simply assembled and disassembled whereby the modular activity structures can be knocked down and stored when it is desired to use a room in situations necessitating more openness, such as parties, meetings and the like.